Even though I spent the first 19 years of my life within 15 miles of this building, I never got a good picture of it, nor did know what was inscribed above the entrance, extracted from the founding charter of the British Colony of Rhode Island in 1663: &quot;To hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil State may stand and best be maintained, with a full liberty of religious concernments.&quot; It was completed in 1904. On top of the dome (4th largest marble dome in the world) is a gold-covered bronze statue of Independent Man, originally named &quot;Hope.&quot; The statue, weighing more than 500 pounds (230 kg), is 11 feet (3.4 m) and stands 278 feet (85 m) above the ground.